JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Twenty-two turnovers and two scoring droughts of four-plus minutes proved to be a deciding factor as seventh-ranked Carson-Newman's comeback bid fell shy against No. 18 Catawba falling 63-58 Monday night at Holt Fieldhouse.
"It's tough adversity right now," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We haven't gone through this in quite some time. This new crop has to experience this and some of returners have to experience it. We know that Catawba doesn't hit a field goal in the fourth quarter. Their last field goal was with 43 seconds left in the third quarter. We have a chance to cut into which we do. With 3:46 left on the clock, we have four turnovers. We don't even get a shot at the rim. I appreciate the grit and effort to get back in the game but today our offense killed us."
The Lady Eagles were 9-3 at home when hosting a top 25 program but have now dropped three straight clashes dating back to 2019. Carson-Newman (3-4) sees its 15-game winning streak in home openers come to an end falling for the first time since losing 81-79 to North Georgia on Nov. 16, 2007.
Catawba (7-0) has won three straight visits to Mossy Creek since winning four in a row from 2001-04. Six of the last eight meetings between the two teams have been determined by single digits. All 19 players to enter the game scored at least one point.
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) was the lone C-N player to crest double digits finishing with 14 points making four out of six from the field in 37 minutes. With three trifectas, she passed Kailyn Brooks for the third-most in a career bringing her tally to 205.
Mincey's bench tallied a season-high 23 points as Ruthie Mbugua (Danville, Ky.) scored eight points making both of her field goals and all four foul shots adding seven rebounds and two blocks in 15 minutes.
Catawba opened the game by scoring eight of the first nine points but C-N found a quick answer using back-to-back three-pointers by Wykle and Kali McMahan (Dandridge, Tenn.) to tie the score at 14 with 96 seconds to play in the opening half. A late foul shot by Mary Spry put the visitors ahead 17-16 after 10 minutes.
The Lady Eagles continued to hold the hot hand watching Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) drain a triple to put the club ahead 21-19 with 7:30 to go in the opening half. However the home group went ice cold failing to score in the final 4:06 seeing the Indians make 9 of their final 11 attempts of the half scoring the final 10 points to take a 42-29 lead into halftime.
Midway through the third quarter, the Indians pushed the lead to 15 at 47-32 before a 13-3 outburst, the final eight being unanswered, to pull back within five at 50-45 with 1:47 to play. Catawba scored four of the final five to make it a 54-46 game going to the final 10 minutes.
Trailing by eight at 59-51 with 6:51 to go the Lady Eagles rattled off eight straight with Tori Rutherford (Rutledge, Tenn.) banking in a driving layup to trim the margin to 59-58 with 4:23 to go. Carson-Newman failed to score the rest of the game with four turnovers down the stretch falling to an Indian group that missed all 14 of their shot attempts in the final period.
Lyrik Thorne led players with 17 points going 5-for-18 from the field with five assists, five rebounds and four steals. Sara McIntosh posted 11 points and Lauren Ford added 10. Catawba went 5-for-28 from the field after halftime but made nine of 14 free throws in the final quarter.
The Lady Eagles continue their short homestand with another top 25 opponent hosting North Georgia on Saturday at 2 p.m. Broadcast coverage airs on Mountain Talk 106.3 FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 1:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network. Video is available with your subscription to FloSports.
- CN -
